Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,845.01 points, up by 0.28% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 1.76% after closing at 419.95 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 960.57 points up by 1.71%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 51.56%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 13.61 million, whereas trading volume average was 70.70 million shares, recording an increase of 16.36%.
The Boursa was able to end the last week with good gains to its three indices, supported by the active purchasing operations that included many listed stocks, especially the leading and operational ones in the Technology and Telecommunications sectors, the most increasing sectors during the last week. The market witnessed such performance in light of many traders’ optimism in the listed companies’ results for the first half of the current year, which caused the increase in the purchasing operations that enhanced the cash liquidity to reache around K.D. 70 million during all the week’s sessions.
Also, the Boursa gained more than K.D. 400 million in the last five sessions, whereas the total value of the listed stocks (in the primary market) reached by the end of the last week K.D. 27.75 billion, against K.D. 27.28 billion at the end of the previous week, and up by 1.74%. On an annual level, the market capital gains reached 9.22% compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then K.D. 25.41 billion. (Note: the market cap for the listed companies in the primary market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available financial statements).
As per the daily trading activity; Sunday’s session witnessed a mixed performance, where the Price Index ended the trading session in the red zone affected by the profit collection operations that targeted some small-cap stocks, especially the ones being traded less than 100 Fils, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to end the session in the green zone supported by the active purchasing operations that concentrated on some leading stocks especially in the Banks sector. On Monday’s session, the three indices closed in the green zone and were able to realize different gains, supported by the active purchasing trend on the leading and heavy stocks, in addition to the quick speculation on some small-cap stocks.
On the mid-week session, the fluctuation returned to control the three indices’ performance, whereas the Price Index could not hold its upward direction and closed by the end of the session in the red zone affected by the quick profit collection operations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, especially in the Insurance and Financial Services sectors, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to increase, supported by the continued purchasing trend on the heavy stocks, amid a noticeable growth in the trading activity, especially the value, which jumped by about 90% compared to the previous session.
On Wednesday’s session, the fluctuation continued its control over the market indices’ performance, whereas the Price and Weighted indices declined affected by the profit collection operations and included some stocks that realized increases in the previous sessions, while the KSX-15 Index went against the current and was able to end the session in the green zone, in light of the continued concentration of the traders on the leading stocks, especially in the Technology and Banks sectors. On Thursday’s session, the three market indices changed positions, as the Price and Weighted indices succeeded in returning to the green zone, however the profit collection operations executed on some leading stocks, pushed the KSX-15 Index to end the session in the losses zone.
For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 19.08% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 10.49%, and the KSX-15 recorded 8.54% growth.
Sectors’ Indices
Eight of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, three recorded declines, whereas the Health Care sector’s index closed with no change from the week before. Last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 4.54% growth rate as its index closed at 654.21 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Telecommunications sector’s index closed at 605.01 points recording 1.63% increase. The Basic Materials sector came in third as its index achieved 1.45% growth, ending the week at 1,265.99 points.
On the other hand, The Oil & Gas sector headed the losers list as its index declined 2.51% to end the week’s activity at 1,063.60 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 0.26%, closing 1,048.83 points, followed by the Consumer Goods sector, as its index closed at 1,023.47 points at a loss of 0.09%.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 132.38 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 37.45% of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 19.37% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 68.45 million shares.
On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 23.91 million or 35.13% of last week’s total market trading value. The Telecommunications sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 15.99 million representing 23.49% of the total market trading value.